Happy Holidays
by TouchOfViolet
Summary: A series of one-shots, following Duncan and Courtney through four holidays. Happy Thanksgiving: Duncan and Courtney have invited both sets of parents to their apartment for Thanksgiving.
1. Happy Halloween

**A/N**: Basically, this story is going to be a series of coinciding one-shots (if that makes any sense). There will be one chapter per holiday, four holidays in all – and maybe an epilogue at the end. At least, that is my hope for this story. I've been wrong before.

Takes place approximately five years after TDI ends. All characters are somewhere in their twenties, at least college age.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Total Drama Island or any related characters.

This story is rated teen for a reason. And, it's pretty much just pure fluff.

**First Chapter's Summary**: Geoff is throwing a Halloween party/TDI reunion back in Canada. Duncan and Courtney are invited.

**Happy Holidays**

By: Touch of Violet

Chapter One

Happy Halloween

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Duncan glared the best he could at his reflection in the changing room mirror. Unfortunately, much of the glare was lost behind the incredibly ridiculous mask he was wearing. What the hell had happened to him, anyway? What on earth would have possibly possessed him to even try on the stupid costume in the first place?

"Duncan?" A perky voice asked from outside of the changing room's thin red privacy curtain. "Can I come in?"

_Oh. Right._

He grunted in reply.

Courtney peaked her head in behind the curtain, glancing around the small room quickly. When she saw he was not indecent she smiled at him and stepped inside. Duncan noticed that she looked ridiculous as well, a red haired wig perched on the top of her head.

"You look great!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together in approval.

Duncan tried to glare again. "This is so gay."

A sudden look of offensive flashed across her pretty features. "No. _Spiderman is not gay_. Hence the girlfriend," she pointed at her wig. "Gay superheros don't have red-headed girlfriends."

Duncan threw his arms in the air. "Courtney! You can see … _everything_! All my freaking man business is just, BAM, right there!" He motioned at the offending area. "That's gay, dude."

She grimaced, but quickly glanced down at what he was talking about. "Yeah …" she began, biting her lip, clearly trying to think of something to say. She shrugged and fixed her wig in the mirror. "But, I really, _really_ wanted to go as Mary Jane, Duncan." Courtney primped before the mirror. "I love this red wig!"

"Oh, please, Princess," Duncan said, shaking his head. "You look just as dumb as I do."

Courtney spun around on her heels. "What?! I should say not!"

"Uh, yeah. How many Hispanic red-heads have you ever seen? I mean, seriously, babe. It just doesn't work."

"And you would know," Courtney said threw gritted teeth, "because suddenly _you _are a hair stylist?"

Duncan made a clicking noise with his tongue. "If I wasn't wearing this dumb mask, I would gesture to my awesome faux-hawk right now."

Courtney clenched her hands into fists at her side. She breathed in deep and closed her eyes; and then all of the sudden, as if changing tactics, she opened her eyes wide and smiled at him, batting her long eyelashes. "Duncan, I really like the outfit."

She sauntered over to him. Carefully, she lifted up the bottom part of his mask, revealing his lips. She placed her hands gently on his waist and smiled. "I mean, if you wear it, we get to act out the best parts of the movie. Now, stop complaining and kiss me."

Duncan obeyed.

When they parted, he sat down on the lone chair in the changing room and pulled her into his lap. He kissed her neck and let his hands roam across her body.

She pushed him away, a bright red blush staining her cheeks, which stood out more than normal because of the phony red hair framing her face. "Duncan!" She hissed, "what are you doing?!"

Her rejection only made him try harder, gently kissing her jaw line. "You started it."

She scoffed and tried to stand up.

Duncan tightened his grip, but not before placing a carefully positioned hand on her thigh. "Come on baby, nobody can hear us."

Courtney quickly picked up his hand and tried to move it. "Yes, they can!" She whispered frantically.

He nipped at her ear. "Nobody can hear, Princess. Relax."

"Um, we can totally hear you," an effeminate male voice said from behind the curtain. "Like, every word. And personally, as the employee who has to clean up the dressing rooms – I really don't want to have to clean up after anything like _that_."

Duncan looked at his girlfriend in surprise. She was staring down at him, her dark eyes wide in a mixture of terror and anger. In a huff, she jumped to her feet and smacked him hard across the back of his head. Courtney stomped out of the changing room, flinging the curtain open and revealing the employee who had spoken earlier. He was young and thin, wearing a Costume Supercenter nametag. Duncan could tell Courtney was blushing again when she muttered something at the employee and darted past.

Duncan stood up, ripping the mask completely off his face. "Hey, thanks for cb-ing like that," He told the employee angrily.

The employee raised an eyebrow. "Look, it's not my fault you have no game. But I do agree with you, honey, that costume is just not _you_."

"I know!" Duncan exclaimed, his anger suddenly disappearing. "It's horrible!"

The employee rolled his eyes and walked away.

Duncan continued to look at himself in the completely ridiculous Spiderman outfit in the mirror. How Courtney even managed to get him to even think about trying it on was beyond him. He smiled as he thought about different ways he could get her back for this obvious injustice.

Courtney came back several minutes later, caring two more costumes, still wearing the wig. "I found some more for us, Duncan!" She exclaimed happily, as if she didn't remember why she left the changing room in the first place.

"Fine," Duncan grunted, "but will you just get this stupid thing off of me?"

After a few moments, Duncan was back in his normal clothes. He exhaled and wiped imaginary dirt off his shirt. "Much better. Okay, whaddja find?"

She held up a costume in each hand, smiling brightly.

He cocked a dark eyebrow. "Alright. I see where you're going with this," he said with an accusing tone in his voice.

Courtney blinked. "What?"

"An angel and a demon, babe?" Duncan crossed his arms against his chest. "Now, why I may in fact be a demon, you are certainly _no angel_." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, successfully causing the blush to rush back to Courtney's face.

She grunted and threw the costumes at him. "You are exasperating!"

He shook his head, a pleased smirk dancing across his lips. "Come on," he grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards out of the changing room. "Since you can't do it by yourself, I'll help you."

Courtney sputtered behind him, fumbling as she tried to find her stride.

They walked down the aisles of the Costume Supercenter, Duncan leading, pulling his girlfriend by the arm behind him. He stopped walking suddenly, causing Courtney to back into him. "Ow," she said mostly to herself, rubbing her head.

"Ah hah!" Duncan exclaimed, sounding proud of himself. He picked a costume off a rack. "This is _perfect_ for you, babe."

She made a disgusted sound from the back of her throat and glared daggers at him. "Slutty nurse. You _cannot_ be serious."

He grinned at her, holding the costume against her body. He looked her up and down. "Seriously serious. You have to get this."

"And what are you going to be, hmm?" She questioned, pulling the costume away from him and angrily stuffing it back on the rack. "Amorous doctor?"

Duncan's grin grew larger, nodding in approval. "I even come with my own scalpel!"

Courtney rolled her eyes, sighing loudly.

"Oh!" Duncan said, grabbing another costume. "How about this one?"

She crossed her arms against her chest and looked away; he still held it up against her body. "Slutty French maid. Even better, right?"

"I hate you." Courtney said. "I hate you _so freaking much_."

"You're right," he nodded, throwing that particular outfit on the floor. "You're definitely right." He reached behind her and grabbed something else. "Slutty sailor it is."

"UGH!" She yelled, pushing against his chest and storming away from him. She disappeared down another aisle. Duncan watched her walk away, a giant grin on his face.

He was having so much fun that it was amazing it was legal.

Duncan shoved his hands in his pockets and slowly followed after his girlfriend. He squinted his blue eyes and tried to find her in the massive costume store. But before he could find his currently red-headed girlfriend, he found the absolute perfect costume.

"Babe!" He yelled out, his large hand fingering the outfit. "Babe, come here!"

"What?!" Courtney snapped in a hushed tone, as if her loud whisper would cause him to lower his own voice. She stomped back over to him.

He held up his newly found treasure. "This is what I'm gonna wear."

She tilted her head to the side. "But … _tights_?"

Duncan sighed and shook his head. He looked at her and tried to explain it to her like he would a child. "I'm not going to wear the tights, Princess. But I'll wear the rest of it. Plus, BONUS, sword!" He handed her the sword. "Seriously, I have to have the sword."

Courtney narrowed her eyes and bit her lip, obviously contemplating her options. "Well, I mean, if that's what you want, Duncan."

He grabbed another outfit off the rack next to where he had found his. "And you can wear this," he said, handing it to her.

She shook her head in obvious defeat. "Fine. Let's just check out and get going."

"Sweet. Sword!"

--

Courtney adjusted her dress in front of the bathroom mirror. She had spent close to three hours getting ready, and was already frustrated with the entire idea of a Halloween party – which did not bode well for the rest of the night.

Oh well, at least her father had put them up in a nice hotel room.

She glanced around the roomy bathroom happily, staring longingly at the gigantic Jacuzzi tub. The bathroom was practically as big as their living room in their apartment!

After the show had ended five years ago, Courtney's parents had decided to move back to the states. She had lived in New York for most of her life before they moved to Canada when she was thirteen. Her father wanted to pursue a more political career using his law experience, and he wanted to do that in the states. So, they moved back to New York.

She had kept in contact with Duncan; phone calls, Skype, text messaging and AIM where her best friends. The summer before her senior year in high school, Duncan had come down to visit.

And he never left. Apparently he had been planning to move to New York for months and never told her. He even had a job and an apartment lined up – all without even once mentioning his plans to her.

Oho, that had caused quite the fight. But, in the end, she was happy to have him near. When she got accepted into Harvard and moved to Boston the year later, it seemed like the natural progression of things for the two of them to move together, and in turn, move in together.

Courtney had to admit, if nothing else, she was never bored when he was around.

She sighed and looked back at her reflection in the mirror. She reapplied her lipstick and adjusted the tiara one more time. Her dress was a shimmery white color, a soft gold belt pinching in at her waist. The sleeves came way passed her fingers, and the length of the dress was to the floor. Despite his short comings in the costume store, it had been very heartwarming when he picked out prince and princess outfits for them to wear to the party. With a smile, she stepped out of the bathroom and into the main part of the hotel room.

Duncan was in full costume, casually lounging on the large bed and watching cartoons. He was wearing a long sleeved, tight fitting green shirt with gold embroidery, unbuttoned on the top to reveal a good portion of his chest. Instead of tights, he had opted to wear jeans, and instead of the shoes that she had paid for, he was wearing his black converses. On his head was a gold crown, tilted to the side in a lazy sort of way, as if not to disturb his green faux-hawk.

"Princess!" Duncan exclaimed, muting the TV. "You look hot."

Courtney pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "Jeans?"

"What?" Duncan said before looking down on himself. He grinned, "I told you I wasn't going to wear the tights."

"So, what?" She asked, a fist on her right hip, "You're my knight in shining denim?"

His grin grew larger. "I like that," he said, patting the side of the bed he was not occupying.

"No," she said fiercely. "We'll never get there on time."

"You're not supposed to get to parties on time, babe."

Courtney raised her left arm close to her face, and counted off the time on her gold Rolex wrist watch. "Look, even if we left right now and knew exactly how to get to Geoff's apartment - which we don't, by the way - we'd be twenty minutes late. Now, get your butt moving and let's go!"

Duncan gave her an angry look of protest, but got up anyway.

They walked hand and hand through the crowded parking lot, trying to spot Courtney's Mercedes-Benz. Courtney had to chew on her tongue to keep herself from bringing up the fight from earlier about Valet Parking.

"_I'm not gonna pay somebody twenty dollars to park my own damn car," Duncan had said in a tone of voice that suggested he didn't want to talk about it anymore. _

_Courtney hadn't paid attention. "_You'r_e car?" She had questioned, egging him on. "Pretty sure my name is on the title, buddy."_

_He had glared at her fiercely. "Uh, pretty sure you're _dad's_ name is on the title, babe."_

_Courtney had scoffed at him. "I'm on there too! It says, 'Martin Shepherd _and_ Courtney Shepherd."_

"_You're just an 'and,'" He had snapped, still unable to find a parking spot even remotely near the tower their room was locating in._

"_Well, being an 'and' is better than being a nothing at all! Like you! And if you had just used valet parking, we'd be in the room by now!"_

Courtney could tell Duncan was growing more frustrated by the second, as they weaved in and out of row after row of expensive cars – none of them belonging to her. She really, really wanted to say her favorite phrase: 'I told you so!' and then add to it, 'If we had just used Valet Parking, they would know where the car is. They would get it for us.' But instead, she bit so hard on her tongue she tasted blood in her mouth.

She really didn't want to fight before the party.

Duncan reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. He lifted the automatic key in the air, pressing the alarm button in every direction he could.

Finally, off to their left, the alarm went off.

Courtney could've sworn she heard Duncan quietly offer up a word of thanks to God, but she decided it would be best not to bring it up.

When they got into her Mercedes, Courtney initiated the pop-up GPS screen and typed in the address that Geoff had texted her the day before. "Now, Duncan," she began, "please be nice at the party. We haven't seen these people in several years, and I don't want to leave with any sour memories. So, no fighting, okay? And please don't get wasted. I don't care if you have a drink _or two-"_

"- or seven," Duncan interjected, turning on the exit the GPS indicated.

Courtney continued on, pretending she hadn't heard him, "but it's not fun for anybody when you're completely drunk and I can't even imagine how embarrassing that would be, okay?"

"Jeeze, fine, Ma. You gonna give me a curfew too?"

She took his hand in his and kissed the back of it, smiling brightly at him.

Duncan rolled his eyes, a scowl on his face, but he didn't pull his hand away. "Whatever."

--

They finally arrived at Geoff's house, a good half an hour late. His yard and the rode outside of his house were filled with cars, making it hard to find a good parking spot. They were able to park about a block away, Duncan assuring Courtney that the walk was worth the risk of her car being damaged by one of their idiot friends.

Coolers filled with beers, sodas and bottles of water were on either side of the front door, greeting each guest as they walked through. Throughout the house were other cast members from Total Drama Island. Justin, Izzy, Owen, Katie, Sadie, Lindsey and Tyler were all dancing. Bridgette, Trent, Gwen, Cody, Beth and DJ were eating chips and dip at the buffet table – though chips and dip seemed to be the only thing offered. Heather, Eva, Ezekial, and Noah were standing around in a circle, apparently trying to talk to each other. They didn't look like they were getting along very well. LaShawna and Harold were hauled off on a chair, making out for everyone else's enjoyment.

They were all dressed up in costumes, most of them looking absolutely ridiculous.

Duncan grabbed himself a beer and Courtney a Cherry Coke. Before they could even take a sip, Geoff came up to them, dressed as a police officer.

"Hey, dudes!" He greeted, wrapping his arms around Courtney in a hug. "You two look great, man!" He and Duncan wracked their knuckles together. "What are you supposed to be?"

Duncan rolled his eyes. "I'm a prince, duh. Check out my sword."

"Oh, sweet!" Geoff admired. "Yeah, the only reason I let Bridge talk me into being a cop was 'cause I get to carry around this fake gun." He pointed to the holster on his hip; Duncan nodded in approval.

"Did you have trouble finding the place?" The blonde asked.

"Nah," Duncan grinned, "got a GPS in the Mercedes. The Four Seasons hotel is just father away from here then we thought."

Courtney sighed when Geoff gave Duncan an impressed look. Duncan was always so quick to rub her family's wealth in everybody else's face. She looked around Geoff's house, deciding instantly there was no way it was his house, and he must still be living with his parents. It had been nicely decorated for the party; skeletons, witches and gravestones scattered throughout the large open area. Courtney scanned the room.

"Hey, Geoff," she interrupted the boys' conversation about a stupid video game (Halo 3, the one Duncan was constantly playing back home), "where's Bridgette?"

He turned around and perused the room with his eyes before pointing to the far corner. There Bridgette sat, dressed as an inmate in a black and white striped jumper, talking to Gwen, who was dressed as a vampire.

She kissed Duncan on the cheek and bounded towards the two girls. Duncan watched her walk away.

"Well you two look like you're doing okay," Geoff teased, hitting him on the shoulder.

--

"Hey, Courtney!" Bridgette greeted, hopping up from her seat and hugging the brown haired princess. Courtney smiled and hugged Gwen before she took a seat in their corner.

"How are you guys doing?" She questioned, a vibrant smile still on her face.

They caught up quickly, talking like they hadn't been apart for years.

"You and Trent still together?" Courtney questioned, leaning back in her seat.

Gwen nodded and pointed at her beau from across the room who was walking towards a still talking Geoff and Duncan. "We're both going to Acadia University and our dorms are in the same building. That helps a lot."

Bridgette "aww"-ed while Courtney rolled her eyes. "Like he even stays in his own dorm room," she quipped.

Gwen shrugged, smiling. "Well, duh."

Bridgette chuckled. "I'm guessing that helps too."

"How about you guys?" Gwen asked, sipping at her drink. "You and Geoff look like you guys are doing pretty good."

"We've broken up like five times." Bridgette announced, casually chewing on her straw. "I can't get that boy to make any sort of serious commitment, you know?"

The girls nodded in understanding.

"But then, for some reason, I always hook up with him again, and then we end up back together again. I cave _way too_ easy." The blonde shook her head.

"That's not caving too easy," Courtney assured her, a hand on her shoulder. "You just love him."

Bridgette smiled up at her. She shrugged and said, "Well, we started working together at the Surf Shack last month. That is so much fun."

Courtney gaped at her. "I can't imagine working with your boyfriend being _fun_. I had a hard enough time picking out a couch with Duncan; I can't imagine _working _with him."

"That's right!" Gwen said with a grin on her face. "You two are living together. How is that going?"

She tilted her head to the side. "It's … different. Good, but different. I do way more laundry then I have ever done before."

"Duncan doesn't do laundry?" Bridgette asked.

"Oh, he tries," Courtney said, taking a big gulp from her cherry soda. "But, every time he tries my clothes come out three sizes smaller than before, and almost always a different color. So I've banned him from the laundry room."

Gwen raked her fingers through her hair black and green hair. "He's probably doing that on purpose, you know."

--

Geoff brought Trent into a big hug when he walked over. Duncan raised a fist and Trent knocked his knuckles against Duncan's. "Looking good man," Geoff greeted, pointing at Trent's neck.

Trent was wearing blood stained clothes. He had purple make-up under his eyes, and two, bloody circles painted on his neck.

Trent smiled. "Yeah, I'm Gwen's victim."

"In more ways than one, right?" Geoff laughed, taking a swig of his beer.

Trent rubbed the back of his head, a smile still on his face. "I wanted to be Danny Zuko from Grease, but I couldn't get Gwen to dress as Sandy. She wanted something to do with blood and gore."

"Nice," Duncan said approvingly.

"How are things going, man?" Trent asked, his eyes on Geoff.

The blonde shrugged lazily. "Got a job at the surf shack with my girl. That's pretty awesome."

Duncan shook his head. "I can't imagine working with my girl being awesome. We almost killed each other over furniture; working with her would be hell."

"Oh that's right!" Geoff exclaimed. "Mr. Commitment over here, movin' in with his girlfriend."

"How is that going?" Trent questioned.

Duncan shrugged, taking a long sip of his beer. He burped and wiped his mouth. "Her dad is a District Attorney in New York, you know, so he's loaded. And he said as long as Courtney was going to Harvard he'd pay all her bills, all her amenities. And, apparently I'm an amenity." He smiled smugly. "Can't beat not payin' for anything."

Geoff gaped at him. "Man, you don't gotta pay for anything?"

Duncan shook his head. "Nope!"

He was lying, of course. He was working his ass off at a bike shop, sending away the majority of each week's paycheck to Mr. Shepherd to help cover all of their expenses. At first he had liked the idea of being a trophy boyfriend, but then his ego and his pride had gotten in the way and he couldn't let Courtney's dickhead dad hold money over him anymore.

It was more fun, though, to let his friends believe he was living life on easy street.

"I'm thinking about asking Gwen to move in with me," Trent admitted a little shyly. "You got any advice?"

Duncan shrugged. "I don't know, dude. It's different, because all of the sudden leaving the toilet seat up becomes grounds for castration." He shuddered a little. "But hey, getting to be naked whenever the hell you feel like it is always a plus."

Geoff raised a blonde eyebrow. "Courtney has no trouble with that?"

"Nope!" Duncan lied again.

He decided not to mention the first time he had actually just decided to spend the day without his clothes on. Courtney had come home from school to find him sitting on the couch. She freaked out and tried to get him to sit on a towel. When he finally did get off the couch, she Febreezed the cushion he had been sitting on a good twelve times.

"_Oh my God, Duncan!" She had shouted, kneeling before the couch, Febreeze spray bottle in her hand. "This couch is always going to smell like you!"_

_He had shrugged. "Maybe I wanted it to smell like me. Maybe I'm marking it. Maybe – maybe I'm going to mark you."_

_She had screamed and ran away from him._

_She couldn't run fast enough._

"_Stay away, Duncan! No! NO! Stay away! Don't make me Febreeze your butt! I'll Febreeze it, damn it! NOOO!"_

--

"Did you hear LaShawna and Harold got engaged?" Bridgette gossiped, pointing across the room at the cuddly couple, who were dressed as Han Solo and Princess Leia.

Courtney gasped, a hand going over her mouth. "What? When?"

"Two weeks ago, according to her MySpace," Bridgette said.

Gwen shook her head. "So wrong, in so many ways."

"And the ring guys," Bridgette started, looking around to make sure no one was listening in, "over three carats."

"WHAT?!" Courtney exploded.

Gwen blinked at Courtney in surprise.

Bridgette was undisturbed. "He just graduated from MIT and got hired by Microsoft. He's a junior vp or something. He started pulling in six figures."

"WHAT?!" Courtney yelled again.

Bridgette stood up. "LaShawna!" She called out. The African-American girl turned her head away from her incredibly thin fiancée. Bridgette waved her over.

Moments later, LaShawna was standing proudly before them, left hand in their faces. On her ring finger was a giant solitaire diamond. "That's right, ladies. My man gets it."

Courtney held on to LaShawna's hand, mouth agape. Her jaw was hanging so low it was practically on her knees.

"We're just so excited for you!" Bridgette said, hugging LaShawna's neck. "We're going to be invited to the wedding, right?"

"Of course, girl!" LaShawna smiled.

"It's beautiful," Gwen said.

The three girls turned their eyes on Courtney, who was still slack-jawed, staring at the ring.

Gwen reached over and pushed on Courtney's chin, shutting her mouth. The simple act pulled Courtney out of her stupor. She regained composure quickly. "Con-congratulations," she managed, still a little stunned.

--

"Uh-oh," Geoff said, hitting Trent as hard as he could in the gut.

Trent doubled over, holding his stomach.

Geoff was looking across the room. "We got trouble," he said.

Duncan raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"LaShawna and Harold got engaged a few weeks ago." Geoff stated, his eyes narrowed and his voice dark.

"So?" Trent questioned, slowly trying to stand up straight.

"So?!" Geoff snapped. He pointed his hand accusingly across the room, "she's walking to the girls!"

"WHAT?!" Duncan exclaimed. He looked to where Geoff was pointing, only to see that his accusation was coming true. Bridgette, Gwen and Courtney sat, waiting for LaShawna to talk to them.

"Maybe she won't show them the ring," Trent said hopefully.

LaShawna made it to her destination, holding out her hand for the girls to see her ring.

"We gotta bail, man," Duncan said, grabbing Geoff's shoulder, "we gotta get out of here before they call us over!"

Trent sighed. "Too late."

Gwen was waiving her arms at them, beckoning for them to come over.

--

Cautiously, and fearing for their futures, the boys walked over to their girlfriends. They were quickly forced to look at LaShawna's ring. They tried the best they could to be encouraging to LaShawna, while at the same time trying to act like they weren't picking up on their girlfriends' none too subtle hints.

Duncan took LaShawna's hand into his. "Very nice. The color and clarity are really good. It's a cushion cut, right? What is it? 3.5 carats?"

The group looked at him like he was sprouting an extra head. He stared back at them, quickly dropping LaShawna's hand and scowling. "What?" He snapped.

"How…how do you know so much about diamonds, Duncan?" Gwen questioned, unable to hold back the mischievous smile on her face. "You've been shopping around?"

He sputtered, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Please. I used to steal them." He looked around the room, trying to seem bored.

Courtney looked up at him, eyebrows high up on her forehead. She shook her head and exhaled. "Whatever," she said. "I'm all out of soda. You girls wanna get some more drinks?" She kissed Duncan on the cheek again and walked away.

Gwen and Bridgette followed suit, leaving LaShawna alone with the three boys.

She crossed her arms against her chest and smiled at them. "You boys look nervous."

Geoff scratched the back of his head. "You know how it is, LaShawna. Engagements and babies – they're contagious."

She laughed in his face. "You all are chickens. I'll catch you later."

* * *

**A/N**: This is not the end of this one shot. I had to split the one shot up because it reached to over 20 pages in word, and I thought this way would be easier on everyone to read. So … it's a one-shot with two parts.

Yes. It makes sense.


	2. Happy Halloween Part Two

**Happy Holidays**

by: Touch of Violet

Happy Halloween

Part Two  
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Courtney wasn't sure how she ended up talking to DJ all by herself, but at the moment she wasn't too concerned. All she knew was that he had handed her a yummy, bubbly drink. He was dressed like a football player, an oversized helmet on his head.

"Maybe you should go easy on the champagne, Courtney," DJ suggested from behind his helmet, as she tipped the glass back to drink its entire contents in one good chug.

She smiled at him, delicately wiping her mouth. "That is _delicious_, DJ. I need some more, I think."

"Um," he began, shifting on his feet and looking around cautiously. "I still think you should go easy-"

"More!" She said, shoving the glass at him. "Please."

He took the glass from her, still unsure. "Alright," he mumbled, walking away.

Courtney licked her lips and sighed contentedly. She started swaying to the music when strong arms came from behind and wrapped around her waist. She squeaked and looked down at herself, surprised by the random gesture. She grinned when she realized who the arms around her waist were attached to, and allowed herself to relax.

"You keep ditching me," Duncan whispered in her ear.

She turned around to face him, smiling. "A girl can dream, can't she?"

"Oh, hardy-har-har." Duncan said. He opened his mouth to say something rude, but a female voice interrupted him.

"Well, if it isn't the two love birds."

Courtney grunted, recognizing the voice immediately. Duncan was the first to turn around, flashing the dark haired woman a cocky smile.

"Heather."

"Delinquent," she greeted back. She faux-smiled at Courtney, "Well, aren't you a pretty princess?"

Heather was apparently dressed as some sort of insect. She was wearing a red and black sleeveless dress that came to her knees, black boots, and red glittery wings.

"Now, see, Courtney," Duncan began, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and smiling at Heather, "Heather dressed as a slutty spider."

Courtney giggled.

Heather huffed, crossing her arms against her chest. "First of all, I'm a lady bug, idiot. And I'm not a slutty lady bug, either."

"If you say so," Duncan said, shrugging one shoulder nonchalantly.

Heather glared at him. "So, Courtney," she smiled, "I must say, I'm still surprised you're with this loser. A girl as smart as you, who actually got into Harvard, should've wised up by now."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "To what, Heather?"

"Hmm," she said, pressing her index finger to her lips, "the fact that he's a no good loser who is clearly using you for your parents' money."

Duncan chuckled and drank a swig of his beer. "Don't embarrass yourself, sweetheart."

"I shouldn't even bother," Courtney said, rubbing her eyes, "but: Heather, how is he possibly using me for my parent's money?"

"Puh-lease," Heather exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "If he was serious about you and not your parents' money, wouldn't he have married you instead of just moved in with you? I mean, seriously, he moved in with you; tell me, Courtney, what finger does that ring go on?" She wiggled her fingers in Courtney's face.

"You know what," Courtney said, pushing Heather's hand away. "At least somebody loves me enough to make a commitment as serious as moving to _a different country_ to be _near _me. In your case, people move to different countries to get _as far away_ from _you_ as possible. Now, tell me, what finger does that ring go on?"

Heather rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll, unfortunately, see you losers later."

Duncan smiled at her as Heather walked away. "Nice one, Princess."

"Here you go," DJ said, joining their group. He handed Courtney a wine glass filled with champagne.

"YEAH!" Courtney exclaimed, grabbing it from him. She took a big sip.

DJ watched her, his brow furrowing. "Duncan, I think you need to keep an eye on her. She's been chugging that stuff like crazy, and she doesn't seem like the drinking type."

Courtney waved her hand at him. "I don't need a babysitter," she snorted.

Duncan and DJ exchanged glances, before slowly turning their attention to Courtney, who was quickly finishing off her glass. "Hey," Duncan said to DJ, chuckling, "at the very least, this could turn out to be really, really funny."

--

Duncan had only ever seen Courtney drunk once, and that was at her cousin's wedding. At first, she had been a lot of fun. She was a very happy drunk. But then, the puking had started …

And lasted all night.

They had slept on the cold, bathroom floor that night; well, in all honesty, she had slept on the bathroom floor. He had laid there next to her, trying to make sure she didn't end up choking on her own vomit.

So, he had learned.

Tipsy Courtney was fun. Tipsy Courtney loved to dance, laughed a lot, and was incredibly frisky. Unfortunately, there was a very small line between tipsy Courtney and wasted Courtney. So, Duncan was very careful as to what drinks he kept getting her. He'd bring her champagne, and when she sent him for more, he'd get ginger ale.

So far she hadn't caught on.

Which, on the plus side, was a good thing. Apparently DJ had jacked the bottles of champagne from Geoff's parents' personal selection in their kitchen. And it was a pain in the ass to keep hunting them down, and hiding them from Geoff. He had a sneaking suspicion Geoff wouldn't like it if he found out he was stealing things from his parents.

Duncan smiled as he watched her dance with Owen and Izzy. She was a terrible dancer, but she was so bad it was cute. Owen and Izzy weren't much better, so the three of them together were rather comical. Not to mention the fact that the couple had apparently dressed up as Tarzan and Jane, so Owen wasn't wearing a whole lot more than just a loin cloth.

"Hi, David!" A peppy voice caught his attention.

Duncan turned his head, a confused look on his face.

Lindsay stood before him, dressed as a piece of candy corn, smiling dimly. "I haven't seen you in like, so long! How are you and Christina doing?"

Duncan puckered his lips, his eyebrows coming together to form a little line in-between his eyes. " … good?"

"GREAT! Oooh, that's such great news!" She clapped her hands together. "I heard you two were going to have a baby."

He choked on his spit. He coughed violently into his hand, his blue eyes filling with water.

Lindsay pounded on his back in an attempt to help, which only made it worse. He grabbed her hand and held her by the wrist, still coughing. "Where … did …. you….hear …. that?" He managed, letting go of her arm.

She smiled innocently. "Heather said that Christina looked fat, and it was probably because she was pregnant. I told her that was a mean thing to say about a pregnant person, and Christina didn't look fat at all to me, anyway. But, you know Heather! She doesn't listen," she shook her head, laughing slightly. "She's stubborn like a pig, or something."

Duncan wiped the tears off his face. "Courtney is not pregnant, don't worry."

Lindsay blinked up at him. "Who's Courtney?"

--

"So, I had waited FOREVER for this Dierks Bentley concert," Courtney told two of her Total Drama Island friends. She and Bridgette were sitting on a large and unusually comfortable couch, while Gwen occupied the coffee table. "It wasn't really even a concert. He was just playing in this little dive in downtown Boston, and there were only a couple hundred tickets, and I had to pay more for two stupid tickets than, like, two month's rent combined. But, anyway, I got them. And I … I love Dierks Bentley. I mean, I just …" Her dark eyes filled with tears. "I love him, so very much."

She shook her head. "Anyway, I drag Duncan down there, and I know he doesn't want to go because he's told me as much at least thirty times. Plus, he hates country music with a passion."

"Ditto!" Gwen piped in.

Courtney glared and took a sip of her drink. Her eyes narrowed and she looked down at her glass.

She had absolutely no idea what she was drinking.

"So, then what happened?" Bridgette encouraged.

"Right, right. Well, we get there. And its crazy packed, you know? We had to push passed people to find a decent place to sit. And as we were pushing passed people, some guy touched my butt. And I was stupid enough to turn around and ask him if he touched my butt. See, that was my mistake." Courtney sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, as if just telling the story was giving her a headache. "Because," she continued, "Duncan heard me, turned around, and NAILED the guy IN THE FACE. I mean, the guy just went DOWN and his nose was just … it was pointing way to the left.

"We got kicked out and I didn't get to see Dierks Bentley, and even though he won't admit it, I know he did it on purpose to get out of the concert." Courtney took another sip of her drink, burping quietly behind her hand. "I made him sleep on the couch for a week," she giggled.

Bridgette leaned forward on the couch. "You know what," she said to Gwen.

"Hmm?" Gwen replied.

"I think our friend here," she jammed her thumb in Courtney's direction, "is a little tipsy."

Gwen nodded. "I think so too."

"And you know what I think?" Bridgette continued.

"What?" Gwen asked.

"I think we should get a little tipsy too."

Gwen raised her glass. "Cheers to that, my friend!"

--

Duncan looked around, terribly confused and really, really annoyed. Ezekiel was standing in front of him, _speaking_ to him, as if Duncan had actually asked a question, or was even remotely interested in what Ezekiel had to say.

The homeschooled chauvinist was dressed in what looked like an old Santa suit – the black belt removed. On his head was a headband with two small silver triangles on top. He had a sword on his hip and currently wasn't wearing any shoes.

"I'm Inuyasha, eh? And this is my sword, the Tetsusaiga. What's your sword's name, eh?" Ezekiel asked innocently enough, which only pissed Duncan off more.

He opened his mouth wide to tell him off, but couldn't find words that were mean enough. There was nothing he could say that would adequately express his annoyance. There were no words in the universe that could properly humiliate Ezekiel. Instead he crossed his arms against his chest and grunted, "Keh."

"AH!" Ezekiel exclaimed with renewed vigor. "I see you are also a fan of Inuyasha!"

"What?" Duncan asked before realizing how loaded that question was.

"You know, Inuyasha; the half-dog demon warrior from the feudal era. He combs the forests with his pack of friends to find pieces of a magical jewel. His sword transforms to help him protect the humans he associates with. Plus, he totally has a hot girlfriend, eh?" Ezekiel explained.

Duncan looked around again, thinking that maybe, just maybe, Ezekiel wasn't talking to him. Unfortunately, it was just the two of them standing there by the keg.

He scratched his right temple and sighed. "I hate you."

--

Courtney, Bridgette, and Gwen had started a game. Every time one of their fellow campers walked by them and did not notice them, they took a drink. As it turns out, the game was very productive and quickly served its purpose for getting the three girls tipsy. They were having fun.

That is, until Eva approached, Katie and Sadie tagging behind. Eva was dressed as Rocky, the boxer from the Sylvester Stallone movies. Katie and Sadie were both dressed as ice cream cones.

"YOU!" Eva shouted, pointing at Bridgette.

Bridgette slowly blinked her brown eyes up at her, pointing at herself. "Me?"

"Yes, YOU!" Eva pointed at the two BFFL's behind her, who were whispering and giggling like crazy. "You need to GET THEM AWAY FROM ME!"

Katie snorted. "She's just mad because we're trying to talk to her."

"Yeah," Sadie agreed, "she doesn't like to be sociable. So then we were asking her why she came to a party if she couldn't be sociable."

"And then she threatened to rip our tongues out of our mouths and stick them up our butts," Katie said.

"So then we just innocently asked her if she liked girls," Sadie said.

"Because she's dressed like a boy and she acts like a boy," Katie added.

"And now here we are." Sadie finished, smiling brightly despite the story they just told.

Katie squealed. "At least I'm here with you, Sadie!"

"AWWW!" Sadie replied, jumping up and down. "Everything is fun, Katie, as long as I'm with you!"

Gwen, Bridgette and Courtney stared up at them.

Courtney sighed and rubbed her temples. "That is a lot of information to take in when slightly inebriated."

Eva growled and pointed at Bridgette again. "Your boyfriend is throwing this dumb party. And that makes you responsible for Dingus and Doofus here. So, GET THEM AWAY FROM ME, NOW!"

"Uh," Bridgette fumbled. She looked at the girls dressed as ice cream cones. "You guys wanna get tipsy with us?"

"Oh my gosh!" Sadie exclaimed.

They held hands and jumped up and down. "That sounds like so much fun!" Katie said.

Gwen lifted up her beer bottle, a sarcastic smirk on her face. "Yay, drunkenness!"

--

Duncan was casually leaning against a wall, watching his girlfriend and her group of friends dance together in the middle of the room.

All of them were clearly a little inebriated.

It was crazy funny to watch them fall over each other.

"Hey, man," a soft voice greeted.

Duncan lazily turned his head, smiling briefly when he saw Trent.

"What's up?" He greeted.

Trent stood next to him, mimicking the way he was leaning against the wall. "You having fun?"

"Eh," Duncan said, taking a sip of his soda.

They stood together, watching the girls dance.

It looked like Katie and Sadie were trying to start a line dance. Bridgette, Gwen and Courtney were trying to follow what they were doing. Courtney tripped on her dress, grabbing on to Gwen's arm for support. Gwen, being slightly intoxicated, wasn't very steady on her feet. They both tumbled to the ground, laughing hysterically as they did so.

Trent and Duncan exchanged glances before breaking out in laughter.

"You can't tell me you don't enjoy waking up to that every morning," Trent said, hitting him on the shoulder.

Duncan shook his head, taking another sip of his soda. "Listen, Trent. Everything changes when you start living together. Like, at first," he took another sip for emphasis, burping before continuing, "they wear the cute little underwear. The barely there stuff, with lace and pretty colors. And they wear the lingerie to bed every night, cute little silk things, right?"

Trent shrugged noncommittally. "Right."

"Well, then, after you move in with them, they get _comfortable. _Instead of the cute little undies, they wear these … these battle suit type things, that fit under the boobs and go all the way down to the knees and it just SUCKS their body in. It's called _shapewear _and it literally changes their shape. It's all lies. And THEN, instead of lingerie, its baggy shirts and your boxers, which she takes without asking."

Trent raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"I haven't even gotten to the heart of it, dude." Duncan admitted. "Soon they start wearing pimple cream to bed. Pimple cream, dude. Pimple cream." He shook his head. "Yeah, how sexy is pimple cream and your own underwear?" He shuddered a little.

Trent shrugged again, and they both turned to look at the girls.

"It's worth it though, right." It was a statement, more than a question – though Duncan didn't miss the worried tone in his voice.

The five girls were trying to do the Thriller dance. They weren't very good. They couldn't get their timing right, so each one was in a different part of the dance. Gwen turned too quickly, her hands knocking into Courtney's face. The act surprised more than hurt the Latina girl, but it still caused her to move backwards quickly; too quickly. She backed into Bridgette, who in turn knocked into Sadie, who then hit Katie, who then fell to the ground, sprawled out across the floor.

Trent and Duncan howled with laughter again.

"Maybe we should help," Trent offered, leaving his post at the wall.

Duncan grabbed his shoulder before Trent could take a step. "Dude, it is way more fun to watch."

--

Courtney sighed contently as she leaned her head back on her seat's headrest. She turned her eyes to Duncan while he drove back to their hotel, a lazy smile on her face.

"I think I'm a little drunk," she admitted.

He glanced at her, a grin on his lips. "Just a little," he agreed. He decided against bringing up the fact that six hours ago she was lecturing him about not getting drunk – mostly because of the fact that Courtney was tipsy, and tipsy Courtney usually meant frisky Courtney, as long as frisky Courtney didn't turn into pissed off Courtney.

"I had fun. Did you see Cody?" She laughed and rubbed her eyes. "He was dressed like a playboy bunny."

Duncan chuckled. "I did see that. Beth was dressed as Hugh Heffner."

Courtney laughed hard at that statement. "Oh, man! I wondered what she was! I saw the robe, it didn't click though."

The laughter died down, and Courtney sighed again. She closed her eyes and tried to get as comfortable as possible in the car's passenger seat.

Duncan exhaled quietly, looking down at the clock. It was well after midnight, and they were going to have to wake up early and start the drive back to the states in the morning. For the first time in … in ever, he was happy he hadn't had too much to drink. Having to drive on little sleep and a hangover was such a bitch. Courtney wouldn't be so lucky; she'd have a killer hangover when she woke up.

He glanced over at her sleeping form. Her face was turned towards him, her dark eyes closed as she cuddled against the uncomfortable headrest. Her tiara was crooked and looked like it was about to fall off her head. He chuckled at the images he had of her from the party. His dignified little princess, who was hell bent on graduating from the top of the class at Harvard and then immediately taking over the world, had really cut loose and amazed everyone with her high tolerance for alcohol and terrible dancing ability.

Duncan pulled into the Four Season's hotel parking lot, making his way over to Valet Parking. She was sleeping, so maybe she wouldn't notice.

He turned the radio up a little, surprised to hear the song "Thriller" by Michael Jackson come quietly through the speakers. The conversation he had with Trent earlier popped into his head.

"_It's worth it though, right."_

Courtney burped in her sleep.

Duncan smirked.

_Right._

* * *

**A/N**: Yay! The end of the first holiday! Thanksgiving is up next.

Review please! Have a suggestion? Review! See a mistake? Review! Want to complain? Review! Want to offer words of encouragement? Yeah, I think you know what to do.

Happy Halloween, everyone!!


	3. Happy Thanksgiving

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

**A/N:** Let me first start off by apologizing for being so late in updating this. I haven't forgotten this story, and do plan on finishing it. However, my computer died. And then my beta's computer died. And then there were finals. And then there were holidays. And then there were in laws – which, by the way, never have in laws if you can manage it.

So, sorry again for the late update, but enjoy this! It's superdy dooper long, neighborino!

Thank you Jordan, for sticking with me and getting this beta'd!! And thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted this story!

**Second Chapter's Summary**: Duncan and Courtney have invited both sets of parents to their apartment for Thanksgiving.

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**Happy Holidays**

by Touch of Violet

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Chapter Two

Happy Thanksgiving

November 26th

Courtney stirred from her sleep, yawning but refusing to open her eyes. The bed was so warm and comfy and she really didn't even want to begin thinking about everything she would have to do that day. She rolled over on her left side and reached out a hand to grab a hold of …

Empty space.

Growling quietly, Courtney blinked her dark eyes open.

His side of the bed was completely vacant of _him_. She closed her eyes and tried to listen for any sound around the apartment. After a moment, the unmistakable sound of something getting blown up on the living room's TV caught her attention. She sighed and shook her head against the pillow.

"Halo," she mumbled in disdain before quickly pulling the covers off her body. She stretched her way out of bed and headed toward the adjoining bathroom. Scratching and yawning, she flicked on a light and headed to the bathroom sink. She blinked at her reflection in the mirror, her eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness.

Unsure, she leaned forward, more closely examining her appearance.

A look of shock flashed across her face and she raised a hand to her forehead.

"No!" Courtney whispered in panic. There, on her forehead, slightly above her right eyebrow was the absolute largest pimple she had ever seen in her entire life.

Ever.

Apparently, her religious use of Proactive and even switching to the freaking pill hadn't stopped her acne from rearing its ugly head at the most inopportune moment. Did her skin not realize all she had to do these next three days?

Courtney put up a valiant struggle. She washed her face, used all of her acne products that were supposed to making pimples invisible, and applied make up like she had never applied make up before. But nothing would appease Mt. Vesuvius' wrath.

"Typically volcanoes need virgin sacrifices," she snorted.

Deciding there was nothing else she could do, she quickly got dressed and headed to the living room. There her boyfriend sat, hair unfaux-hawked and hanging messily in his face. He had a headset on and a controller in his hands, playing Halo, just as she suspected.

"Good morning," she greeted, heading over to their kitchen. She rummaged through the junk drawer to find something to write a grocery list on.

"Hey babe," he greeted back, glancing up from his game to look at her. "How are – WOAH! Jeeze, what did you do with my hot girlfriend, Frankenstein?"

Courtney faltered in her pursuit through the junk drawer and looked up at the couch, offended. "Excuse me?"

He smirked at her. "You growing another eye or somethin'?"

She felt her face light up on fire. "DUNCAN!"

He cocked an eyebrow. "What? I'm not the one who's growing a satellite on their forehead."

"UGH!" She exclaimed, storming out of the kitchen and into the second bathroom, off the living room. She rummaged through the medicine cabinet, quickly grabbing the Band-Aids. Unfortunately, when she had bought the box of Band-Aids last month, the ones with superhero designs had been on sale. And so, those were the only ones she could choose from.

She tore through the box, pulling out one that was somewhat respectable, and placing it over the giant lump on her forehead. Staring at herself in the mirror, Courtney took the time to run her fingers through her hair. Smiling at her reflection, she left the bathroom. When she reappeared in the living room, Duncan stared back up at her again.

A game had just ended, so she was receiving his full attention.

_Joy._

"Band-Aid. Nice." He narrowed his blue eyes at her, trying to see what it looked like from across the room. "Power rangers?"

She grunted and glared, raising a hand to lightly touch the bandage. "No. It's the Flash."

He blinked. "What?"

Rolling her eyes, she headed back over to the kitchen. "The Flash. Superhero?"

"Never heard of him. What's his power? Control of lightning, or something?" His eyes were back on the TV screen.

Courtney opened up the fridge to see exactly what she needed to buy. "No, he can move at super speed."

"I've always preferred Wonder Woman, myself," Duncan said, a smirk in his voice. "That's what you should have been for Halloween, princess! You'd make a hot Wonder Woman. Well, except for the extra nose that sprouted up over night."

She slammed the fridge door closed and jotted down what she need. "I hate you."

He chuckled. "What? You can't take a little teasing, Princess?"

"Do you have a brain?" She snapped, slamming her list down on the counter. "This is a big freaking deal!"

He took the headset off and stared at her, unblinking. "The pimple?"

"No, not the pimple, you idiot!" Courtney pinched her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "Both of our families are coming to our apartment for Thanksgiving; Thanksgiving involving a huge dinner that I have to cook. And not only do I have to cook this huge dinner, I have to house everyone in my apartment. The way our apartment looks reflect who I am as a housekeeper. So, not only do I have to go shopping and buy a bajillion things to make a meal that I have never made on my own before, I have to scrub the house from head to toe and get it ready for inspection."

Duncan looked around the room in disbelief. "What would you have to scrub? The apartment looks fine."

She sighed and shook her head. "You don't understand," she mumbled.

"No, tell me. What do you have to do?" He asked, and for the first time all morning, he sounded concerned.

Courtney sighed again and looked around. "Well, the dishwasher needs to be unloaded. I need to vacuum. Both bathrooms need to be cleaned. All the trashcans have to be emptied. And I need to change the sheets on the two beds so they are nice and fresh for our parents, and find some somewhere for the air mattress."

"That doesn't sound like too much," Duncan said.

"That is on top of doing the normal laundry, preparing for the other meals our families will eat when they are here because - remember, our parents are showing up tonight. Plus somehow trying to stay ahead of my homework because, hello, uh, I'm _still_ going to mother freaking _Harvard_. You know, it's just the college with the highest suicide rate in the country!"

He nodded and put the headset back on, turning his attention back to the TV screen. "I'm sure you'll get it all done, babe."

Biting her tongue and blinking back tears, she picked her list up off the counter. "I'm running to the store. I'll be back later."

Courtney didn't even bother to look back as she bolted out the door.

--

"He's such a jerk!" Courtney complained into her cell phone, holding it between her cheek and her shoulder as she pushed a grocery cart down an aisle. "I swear, he's just going to sit on his butt and play video games all day and not help me with this! Doesn't he understand how stressful this is?"

Bridgette sighed on the other end of the phone. "No, I don't think he understands how big of a deal this is to you. He is a boy after all. And, well, he's also Duncan."

Courtney quickly scooped up several cans of tomato sauce and dumped them unceremoniously into her cart. "It's just – our parents are coming to our home. It's very, very …"

"Grown up?" Bridgette finished for her, and Courtney nodded even though she couldn't see.

"And I feel like they'll be judging my worth based on how I pull this off." She admitted.

Her friend lightly chuckled. "But your parents will be there as well. You know they love you no matter what – dirty shower, burnt turkey and all."

Courtney stopped in her tracks, partly because of what Bridgette said, and partly to load her cart full of soda. "No they won't."

"You're being unreasonable."

She grunted as she heaved a big 24 pack of Coke Zero into her cart. "_You're_ being unreasonable," she countered.

Bridgette sighed, but paused. "Oh hold on a sec."

"Wait, what?" Courtney asked, but to no avail. She was put on hold. With a scowl, she continued to load her cart with sodas. When she was finished, it was even harder to push.

After a moment, Bridgette came back. "Sorry about that. Gwen called."

"Oh?" Courtney questioned.

"Yep!" A third voice said. "And she changed it to a three way call."

Courtney's dark eyebrows knitted together. "Hi, Gwen."

"Don't sound too happy now." Gwen teased.

"Courtney's having a stressful holiday season," Bridgette explained. "She just needs time to vent."

"Aww," the Goth girl said, "what's the matter, Court?"

Courtney couldn't tell if she was sincere. She set her jaw and stared down the meat section. "Our families are staying with us for Thanksgiving and Duncan's being an ass."

"You say it as though Duncan's not always an ass," Gwen said with a slight laugh in her voice.

Courtney growled. "Shut it, Wednesday Adams!"

There was a long pause.

"…Wednesday Adams?" Gwen finally echoed. She paused again. "What … what year is this?"

Bridgette laughed, long and hard.

"No seriously. I'm concerned now." Gwen said. "I didn't walk into some sort of space/time warp and it's suddenly 1991 again, is it?"

This only spurred on Bridgette's laughter.

Courtney just shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry girls, but I have a lot on my plate today. I'll catch you both later." She flipped her phone closed and stuck in her pocket.

This was going to be a long three days.

--

As he vacuumed, Duncan couldn't figure out why Courtney was making such a big deal out of cleaning. It wasn't rocket science or anything. And yeah, while he did break a sweat scrubbing the shower, it wasn't the freaking end of the world. He just put his headphones in his ears, turned on his iPod, and got to work. And vacuuming wasn't that bad; it wasn't his idea of fun, and yeah, he was breaking a sweat again, but there was a slight satisfaction in seeing the immediate improvement in their pink carpet. Very slight, but still satisfying none the less.

He was surprised when a loud banging noise caught his attention over the music blaring through the ear buds. He turned, not bothering to turn off the vacuum, to see Courtney standing in the doorway, bags of groceries around her feet, their contents dispersed across the floor. Her mouth was practically hanging down to her feet, and her pretty brown eyes were staring at him like he was a ghost.

He turned the vacuum off and plucked the ear bud out of his right ear. "Welcome back, Princess."

Now, while he had expected her to be grateful for helping around the house, he didn't expect her to turn into a tigress and run at him full speed, knocking him flat on his back on the ground. And he certainly didn't expect his little princess to thank him the way that she did; not on the living room floor like that, with the front door wide open and groceries rolling into the hall.

He was going to have to start vacuuming more often.

--

Courtney had practically pushed Duncan in the shower, telling him that he needed to be presentable for when their parents arrived. He had tried to argue that he'd never worried about being "presentable" for either set of parents before, but when she had her mind set on something there really wasn't any way to get her to change it.

The biggest hassle he had faced that morning when trying to clean the shower had been moving all of her freaking bath products around. Practically ever empty space in the shower was covered in some sort of gel or soap or something that he had never even heard of. He figured, roughly, she probably spent forty dollars a month on stuff to use in the bath.

_Such a freaking waste._

He picked up a small container that said "Gingerbread Man" on it and snapped open the lid, inhaling. Sure enough, it smelled a lot like a gingerbread cookie. Deciding he didn't want to spend the day smelling like a cookie, he opted for a bar of soap; just a standard bar of regular soap that didn't smell one way or the other.

Duncan couldn't understand why Courtney would waste her money on all the other products. Oh, and on those smutty romance novels she thought he didn't know about.

She kept them hidden in her underwear drawer, of all places. Why she thought that would be the one drawer he'd never go in, he didn't know. It was her freaking underwear drawer, for God's sake – of course he was in it the first moment he was alone in the apartment.

He had thumbed through a couple of the novels. They were the cheesiest, stupidest things he'd ever seen; they had the funniest names for the male anatomy. Honestly, he'd read through them and just laugh and laugh.

And occasionally take some notes.

When he finished his shower and smelled rather neutral, he got dressed in his standard wear and left the bedroom. Courtney was in the kitchen, an apron around her waist, and her hands in some sort of dough on the counter.

He smirked when he saw her looking so domestic, and walked into the kitchen. "Watcha doin?"

"Baking," she answered shortly.

Duncan put his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Whatcha baking?"

"Pie."

He titled his head slightly, watching her knead the dough. "Why?"

"Because I won't have time to bake tomorrow and there has to be pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving." She responded. "Also, it will make the house smell good for when they get here."

"Ooooh," He teased, moving over to the fridge and pulling out a soda, "the ominous 'they'."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "What an impressive sentence for such a small little brain to form."

Duncan stuck his tongue out at her before taking a sip of his soda. He watched her for a moment longer. She was biting her lip as she rolled out the dough. "You look cute like that."

She moved hair out of her face, inadvertently rubbing flour onto her forehead and all over her Flash Band Aid. "Like what?"

He waved his hand. "Like that. All – bakery."

Courtney snorted before turning her attention back to the dough in front of her, trying to her hide her pink cheeks. "Whatever."

Duncan continued to stare at her, sipping at his soda. After a moment, he discreetly stuck his hand in the flour bag, grabbing a handful. Chuckling to himself, he threw the flour ball in her face.

She froze on her feet, eyes and mouth closed from shock. When she finally opened her mouth it was to blow flour out from between her lips. "You're going to die." She said calmly, and before Duncan even had time to properly laugh at her face, she had cracked an egg on his head, the yolk drizzling down and hitting his nose.

"Oh," Duncan said, putting his soda on the counter, "its war now, Princess."

After that, it was blurry of flour and egg and milk and dough. At some point Courtney had run to the freezer and pulled out the chocolate ice cream and smeared it into his face, while he took the remnants of the pumpkin pie filling she planned on using and dumped them down her shirt. She screamed at the cold substance on her back. "You're such a jerk, Duncan!"

He grabbed her with his pie filling laden hands and kissed her roughly on the lips. "But I'm _your_ jerk, Princess."

There was a loud knock on the door. Both Courtney and Duncan looked at it with wide, surprised eyes.

"Ohmigosh! OH NO!" Courtney whispered in a panic. "They can't be here already! I'm …" she looked down at herself, "apparently a _yeti_, the kitchen is a mess, and there isn't a pie in the oven!"

There was another loud knock and Courtney whimpered.

Duncan rubbed her upper arms sympathetically. "Do you – do you want me to answer it?"

She nodded, tears in her eyes.

Inhaling deeply, Duncan made it over to the front door. He reached for the doorknob, flour flaking off his arm as he did so, and carefully opened the door. There stood Courtney's parents, her father in front of her mother. He was a tall, brown haired man with green eyes. Her mother stood behind him, her head peaking over her father's shoulder. She was much shorter, with brown skin and black hair. She let out a gasp when she saw Duncan.

Apparently, he also looked like a yeti.

Martin Shepherd eyed him up and down before letting out a quiet, disapproving sigh. "Hello again, felon."

He grinned. "Hello, Mr. Shepherd. Your daughter and I were just baking a pie."

Martin raised an eyebrow, a look of annoyance plastered on his well groomed face. "I hate to break this to you, but you were doing it wrong."

--

Lisa, Courtney's mother, had started helping Courtney clean up the kitchen, laughing good naturedly as she did so. But first, she had taken a picture of the two of them in the mess of a kitchen: Courtney hiding her face behind her hands and Duncan smiling like the Cheshire Cat. Duncan had the pleasure of giving her father the grand tour of the apartment, which struck Duncan as somewhat funny, considering he had gotten the apartment for them, but had never actually seen it. Every step Duncan took left a white foot print in the recently vacuumed carpet.

He would've found that annoying if the whole situation wasn't really, really funny.

Martin had quickly peaked into the master bedroom but had flat out refused to step inside. Apparently, the thought of his daughter and Duncan sharing that room was enough for him to become so completely uncomfortable he'd rather pretend that room didn't exist.

Duncan would've pushed the issue, just to get on Martin's nerves, if he wasn't hoping to get more on the man's good side during this little visit.

He was going to have a serious, sit down talk with him next month; he really wanted to be on his good side for that talk alone - and then he could immediately go back to being on his bad side for all he cared.

"So," Duncan said, clapping his hands together, noting with a grin the puff of white that formed because of the motion, "I guess you and Lisa will be in the guest room. Aaaand, if you don't need anything else, I'm gonna jump in the shower."

After twenty minutes of scrubbing in his second shower of the day, Courtney was missing (probably in the other bathroom) and Lisa was vacuuming. Martin was sitting on the couch, a beer in his hand, watching the news on mute. He noticed, vaguely, there was another one sitting on the coffee table, unopened, as he sat down next to Martin on the couch.

The district attorney nodded at it, and Duncan took the invitation, happily sipping at the drink.

He got him a beer. That was a good sign. Well, it was probably Lisa who got him the beer. But, anyway, Martin had motioned towards it. "So," he said, over the vacuum, "how was the drive?"

He shrugged, uninterested, and stared at the TV screen.

Duncan inwardly sighed and bit his tongue.

_Three days. Only three days. Just keep your damn mouth shut for three days._

The vacuum stopped and Lisa smiled at them from behind the dining room table. "Okay, I got all your foot prints off the floor."

He stood up, putting his drink on the coffee table and walking over to her. "Thank you, Lisa," Duncan said, wrapping up the cord for her. "Go sit down – make yourself at home. I'll put this up." She kissed his cheek, surprising the rebel a little, before cuddling up next to her husband on the couch.

After a moment, the second bathroom door cracked open. "Um," Courtney's voice squeaked, "Duncan?"

"Hm?" He called, wheeling the vacuum back to their closet.

"Can … can you bring me some clothes?"

--

Courtney sighed and fixed her eyes on the news. Her parents were snuggling on the couch – which was really, really gross – and she and Duncan had been resigned to the two recliners. His parents were due to arrive at any minute and she was nervous. Not for herself; Duncan's parents absolutely adored her and went out of their way to say so. They thought she was a good influence on their wayward son and encouraged their relationship. She even spoke with his mother once a week over the phone. She was nervous because it was the first time her parents met his parents.

She wrung her hands in her lap, and glanced out of the corner of her eye at Duncan.

It was a really, really big step in their relationship and he had pushed for it.

She supposed she should have had this kind of nervousness when they moved in together, but she hadn't. Yes, they had been together – technically official – for four years and had known each other for over five. But without their parents ever meeting …

Well, with the coming together of the "ominous they" (as Duncan had put it), it legitimized their playing house. Now, suddenly, they weren't playing house anymore.

They were a real, legitimate couple that lived together in the same house; so much so that their families came to _their_ home to visit.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. Who knew she'd suddenly be afraid of commitment?

There was knock on the door and before Courtney could stop her tongue she heard herself say, "I'll get it!" She paused when the three other people looked at her curiously, realizing she had practically shouted. She chuckled nervously, and scrambled to her feet. With one last smile back at her family, she broke out in a run to the door.

She put her hand on the handle and took a moment to collect herself, inhaling and holding her breath. With a loud exhale, she opened the door.

Duncan's parents stood, side by side in the hallway, smiling at her. His father was a shorter man, with dark hair and glasses. His mother was even shorter than his father, with big blue eyes and short blond hair.

"Courtney!" Marian greeted, pulling her into a hug. "You look wonderful! Oh! What happened to your forehead?"

Courtney's eyes went wide and she touched the band aid that was covering the pimple that she completely forgot about. "Oh, um," she chuckled nervously again, "there was a … baking incident."

His parents stepped in past her, his father closing the door. "You bake?" Alex questioned.

"Not, um, not very often. Hence the need for a bandage," she laughed as she pointed at her forehead. Her laughter trailed off and she shook her head. "Well, um, you guys just set your luggage there. We'll get it later. And, um, you want to meet my parents?"

She didn't wait for their response before leading them into the open living room. Her parents rose from the couch, and within seconds the parents were shaking hands.

She and Duncan stood off to the side, watching.

After the obligatory, "my name is" and "how do you do"s there was a quiet silence.

And then, all at once, there was a loud explosion of conversation, the mothers talking to the mothers and the fathers talking to the fathers. They were all talking to each other like they had known each other for years, and before she could even do anything, their fathers were sitting on the couch, chatting away, and her mother was giving his mother a tour of the apartment.

She felt her eyes go wide and turned to face Duncan. He stared back at her a moment before shrugging a shoulder.

"Huh," she finally managed.

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Huh."

--

November 27th

Thanksgiving Day

Sleeping arrangements had not worked out to Duncan's favor. His parents were sleeping in their bedroom; and her parents were in the guest bedroom. Which left them on the air mattress on the living room floor. Which wouldn't have been so bad if the air mattress wasn't a full size, instead of their usual king, and wasn't the cheapest air mattress Wal-Mart had to offer.

Ever single, tiny, insignificant twitch Courtney made in her sleep rocked his body back and forth. At some point during the night he had spooned her – a little too roughly – to just stop her from moving. He was tired, moving on to exhaustion, and it seemed like she couldn't even breathe without making the cheap mattress bounce up and down.

It felt like he had just fallen asleep when he started hearing doors opening and closing and people whispering around him.

He felt a hand on his cheek and slowly blinked his eyes open.

Courtney was standing above him, completely dressed, with a smile on her face. "It's time to get up, Duncan."

He blinked a few more times at her before propping himself up on his elbows. Their parents were across the room, seated at the dining room table, drinking coffee and talking quietly.

"What time is it?" He croaked out, suddenly thirsty.

She smiled slightly. "Six thirty."

He groaned. "This is going to be a long day, isn't it?"

Courtney nodded. "The longest."

--

Duncan put his hands behind his head, a cocky smile on his face. He should've guessed their fathers would get along famously. They had something in common, after all: their mutual dislike of Duncan.

"I can't tell you all the mess we had to clean after his 'Nude Year's Eve' Party," His father said with a shake of his head. He pushed his glasses further up his nose with his index finger. "Just ridiculous."

Courtney's father snorted. "Tell me about it. I had to reason with an idiotic country music fan because Duncan punched him in the face and broke his nose at a concert. He was threatening to sue."

His father paused. "Country music? Duncan hates country music."

"Well, since he broke somebody's nose at a country music concert, I'd have to agree with you there."

Duncan cleared his throat, causing both men to look at him from the couch. "You know, I'm right here. You don't have to talk about me like I'm not there. And about the concert," he turned his focus to Martin, "your daughter dragged me there and that 'idiotic fan' had grabbed her butt. He deserved the broken nose."

They stared at him for a moment longer, but Duncan just scowled.

Martin shook his head. "You know, Alex," he said to Duncan's father, "I was rather impressed with your son when he managed to get a well paying job at that bike shop. If Courtney's tuition wasn't so astronomical, he would be able to support the both of them quite comfortably."

Duncan's face felt hot, which surprised him as much as it unnerved him.

Duncan Davis does not blush.

He leaned back in his recliner and closed his eyes.

"Courtney told us he got to design and build a custom bike for the new Iron Man film," Alex agreed. "We were very proud."

"Yes, I believe she mentioned that to us as well. They keep him busy over there."

Duncan's face was arm again, be he ignored it and glared through his closed eyes. He felt a sudden surge of caveman like pride course through him.

_Me provide good for woman._

There was a pause in their fathers' conversation.

Finally his dad sighed. "Did I tell you about the time he filled the high school's pool with jello? And then he used the bathroom in that poor kid's tuba…"

Duncan quickly stood up and left the room, deciding to help the women in the kitchen.

--

Courtney had never blushed so much in her entire life. Their mothers were chatting away like old friends. They were kindred spirits; kind souls who were practically born with their maternal instincts raring and ready to rule their lives.

Apparently, both mothers had some none too subtle grandmother aspirations.

Courtney mashed the potatoes harder than necessary, her knuckles white as she held on to the handle of the masher for all she was worth. Her cheeks were so hot they were burning.

"You know, I only had two boys," Marian, Duncan's mother, began as she basted the turkey, "and I would love to have a little granddaughter. Girl baby clothes are just so adorable!"

Lisa giggled her agreement. "It was so much fun to shop for Courtney when she was little. I do miss all the cute little dresses."

Out of the corner of her eye, Courtney noticed Duncan approaching the kitchen.

"I've always liked the name Tiffany," Marian admitted, putting the turkey back in the oven. "Oh, or Lauren."

Lisa nodded. "When I was pregnant, I was torn between Courtney and Addison."

Duncan joined them in the kitchen, leaning against the counter next to his girlfriend. She felt him look at her with a smug grin on his face. "You _really_ hate lumps in your mashed potatoes, hmm?"

She looked at him with wide, terrified eyes.

His dark eyebrows narrowed in confusion before he turned to look at their mothers flutter about the kitchen, calling out different names they liked. "What are they talking about?"

"Grandchildren," she squeaked.

He froze and their mothers stopped their activity to look at them curiously.

"Like … ours?"

She nodded.

There was a knock on the door, and Duncan shrugged, stepping away from the counter. "I like the name Addison, too."

Their mothers "aww"ed, but Courtney glared fiercely at him as he walked away. "Not helpful," she managed, pounding into the unsuspecting potatoes.

He just smirked at her before heading the front door.

--

When Duncan opened the door, his smirk lost its confident edge. "Daniel," he greeted.

"Little brother," Daniel greeted back, a small smile on his face.

Daniel was tall and well behaved, handsome and well educated. He was a blond haired, blue eyed jackass.

"You gonna let me in or what?"

Duncan opened the door further and Daniel brushed past him into the apartment. He gave an approving nod. "Nice place," he said, thrusting his duffle bag in Duncan's arms. "I'm surprised."

"Hi, sweetie!" Marian said from the kitchen.

He turned his head and smiled at her. "Hi, mom," he said as he walked towards her. He kissed her cheek.

Duncan scowled, dropping the duffle bag harshly on the floor. His father got off the couch and headed towards the kitchen, Courtney's father in tow.

Daniel turned his eyes on Courtney and smiled at her. "You must be Courtney. Mom never stops talking about you." She offered him her hand to shake, and instead he kissed the back of it.

Duncan felt a growl form in his throat. He swallowed over it and settled on glaring at the back of his brother's head.

Courtney blinked up at him with wide eyes. "And you're … Duncan's brother?"

He nodded, a smile on his face, still holding her hand.

Alex brushed past Duncan and entered the kitchen.

"Are you sure Duncan's not adopted?" She questioned.

"Unfortunately," Alex mumbled, pulling Daniel into a hug.

Courtney blinked again at the two of them, a look of surprise and annoyance on her face. "Unfortunately?" she echoed.

"Daniel, meet Lisa and Martin," Alex introduced his son. "Martin is a district attorney in New York."

Daniel shook Martin's hand. "Nice to meet you, sir."

"Nice to meet you as well," Martin said and sounded sincere. "I hear you work as a police officer like your mother and father."

The conversation continued on, the men talking while the women worked. Duncan's father couldn't praise Daniel enough and Martin was interested in everything he had to say.

Duncan had a sneaking suspicion Martin was only interested because he thought it might piss him off – and Duncan was not going to give Martin that satisfaction. Good side or no, he was not going to be jealous of his brother just because his girlfriend's father seemed to approve of him. So, Duncan just crossed his arms against his chest.

Courtney caught his eye and winked at him.

Involuntarily, he smiled back at her.

--

The Thanksgiving feast the women had prepared was delicious. Duncan tried his damndest to focus on the food and not the conversation. His brother was being the center of attention, sharing stories that Duncan supposed were meant to embarrass him. He wasn't, of course. The only person that mattered at the table already knew most of them, and even if she didn't know it wasn't like she was going to kick him out of the apartment.

Still, everyone was laughing, because apparently the idea of Duncan sleeping with a teddy bear until he was 13 was just hilarious. He scowled into his roll, sparing a sideways glance at Martin.

Martin had a good natured smile on his face, staring at Duncan in an odd sort of way.

Duncan resisted the urge to glare at him and briefly wondered to himself why Courtney's father's approval was so important to him. He pushed the thought aside when Courtney took her hand in his.

She smiled at him, a twinkle in her eye, and he prayed to God in heaven she wouldn't mention the fact that he still owned that teddy bear.

Daniel kicked his shin under the table, and Duncan let out a surprised yelp, quickly looking away from Courtney. His brother grinned at him, and Duncan just rolled his eyes and threw his roll at his brother's unsuspecting face.

--

When dinner had finished, the parents had offered to clean up. Courtney had protested valiantly, even helping to clear some of the table on her own. Eventually, Lisa had made Duncan take Courtney into the living room. She had struggled against him to the point where he had to sit on her on the couch to keep her still.

"Duncan!" She hissed. "Get your bony butt off me!"

He grinned and pushed himself harder into her lap. "Not a chance, princess."

She poked him hard in the sides. "Get off me now!"

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Only if you promise to behave."

Courtney huffed loudly. "_Me_ behave?!"

"Yes," he smiled, "_you_ behave. No going into the kitchen."

She narrowed her dark eyes in a glare and opened her mouth to speak, but his brother reached out a hand and grabbed Duncan by his ear, effectively pulling him off Courtney. "Honestly, little brother, why she stays with you I can't figure out."

Duncan growled as he pried his brother's fingers away from his ear. "Damn it, Dan!"

Courtney took this as her only opportunity and made a mad dash for the kitchen.

Duncan punched his brother in the arm. "Jackass."

Dan punched Duncan back. "Moron."

Duncan rolled his shoulders back and shook his head. "Now I gotta wrestle her outta the kitchen again. Thanks a lot, Dan."

"No," his brother said, grabbing his arm. "Let her do what she wants. It's her apartment."

He glared at him. "It's _my_ apartment."

His brother flashed an arrogant smirk. "Right. I'm sure _your_ name is on the lease."

Duncan paused momentarily.

"No?" His brother questioned. "Just Courtney? Or … is it Courtney and her father?" Daniel let out a small laugh. "So you have absolutely no ownership of your apartment at all! Man, little brother, you are stupid."

Duncan's eyes flashed red and before he knew it, he had knocked his brother on the ground, both hands around his neck.

He got in a couple of good punches – though his brother did get in a sucker punch before Alex and Martin came running out of the kitchen, pulling them apart.

"Damn it, Duncan," his father scolded, examining Daniel's bleeding nose. "Can't you behave yourself for two stinking days?"

Duncan wiped the blood off his lips with the back of his hand before grinning at his dad. "Trust me. This is behaving myself."

--

Courtney sighed at her reflection and fingered the Band-Aid on her forehead. Thanksgiving was over, and she had survived, relatively unscathed. Their mothers had complemented her on her ability to keep house and had threatened to take her 'black Friday' shopping.

She hoped they were joking.

Courtney quickly brushed threw her hair again before leaving the second bathroom and walking into the living room. Daniel was laying down on the couch, Duncan on that cursed air mattress. She crawled in next to him, quickly curling up at his side to get warm.

Daniel grunted when Duncan held her. "Look guys, I'm right above you. So no funny stuff, ok? I want to be able to keep my food down."

Duncan smirked at him. "Sorry, Dan. It's my place, my girlfriend … seems to me I can do what I want."

Daniel narrowed his blue eyes in a glare. "Try anything and my bare ass will be on your face so freaking quick."

Duncan's smile grew wider. "Oooh! I'm _so scared_!"

Courtney grunted and rolled away from Duncan. "You two idiots shut up. It's bed time."

The boys exchanged a few more grunts and growls before shutting up. She heard Dan roll over on the couch, and Duncan threw his arm over her waist, pulling her body flush against his.

"Good night, Princess."

"Good night, Delinquent."

--

November 28th

It seemed like only minutes after she had fallen asleep that somebody was shaking her awake. Courtney groaned and rubbed her eyes.

"What?" she snapped.

"Come on, honey," her mother's voice whispered. "We're going shopping."

Courtney's eyes shot open.

"You're kidding."

She wasn't.

She was so serious that it was painful. Courtney had to wait outside in the freezing cold for the local mall to open up. Her mother, herself, and Duncan's mother all huddled together in the massive line at five o'clock in the morning. When they finally made it inside, their mothers had taken off in a mad dash towards Macy's. Courtney was much more lethargic about the whole deal, shuffling through the mall like a zombie.

Fortunately, a wonderful man had opened up a coffee stand, and Courtney greedily drank her cup empty while looking around for something somewhat entertaining. She was caught off guard when she noticed a costume store next to the Build a Bear Workshop. She hadn't seen the costume store there before, and she would've noticed it, because she loved to build the occasional bear.

Plus, they had been costuming shopping last month for something to wear to Geoff's Halloween party, and finding nothing, had waited until they were in Canada to buy costumes.

Having nothing better to do, Courtney walked around the small costume store. They had everything there – vampire costumes, slutty costumes, insect costumes, superhero costumes.

Courtney froze. Superhero costumes?

An evil grin spread across her features as she searched the racks. Suddenly, her morning wasn't so painful after all.

--

The three of them returned back to Courtney's apartment around ten o'clock that morning. Duncan's parents had a flight at twelve thirty and his mother was certain she didn't want to miss it. The boys hadn't killed each other while the women were gone; instead someone had cooked eggs and bacon, leaving all the dishes in the sink.

Daniel and Duncan were playing Halo 3 on the living room TV, and Alex and Martin were talking to each other over cups of coffee at the dining room table.

Marian had immediately started packing up their things, encouraging Daniel to do the same. Daniel had tried arguing that since he drove there from Canada he didn't need to leave at the same time as anyone else, but Marian had flashed him that look that only a mother can give, and Daniel had hurriedly got off the video game.

Courtney made sure to hide her bag to the costume store from Duncan, sticking it in their bedroom closet. When she stepped out of their bedroom, everyone was gathered at the front door, Marian putting on a scarf.

"Thank you so much for having us, Courtney!" She called across the apartment.

Courtney smiled and walked over to them. Marian brought her into a big hug, kissing her cheek. "We love you."

Courtney tried to hide her blush. "Love you too," she managed, hoping she sounded sincere.

Marian let go of her and Courtney was just brought into another hug by Alex. "You keep our boy in line, okay?"

She nodded into his shoulder. "Will do."

When Alex let go of her Daniel brought her into a crushing hug. "You know, you can always give me a call if things go south," he whispered rather loudly in her ear.

Duncan grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt and pulled her out of Daniel's arms, scowling.

Daniel just let out a loud laugh.

Their moms gave each other hugs good bye, while their fathers settled on handshakes. And very quickly, all of Duncan's family had left.

The apartment grew quiet, and Martin let out a sigh. "I think we should be going too, Lisa. That way we'll get home before nightfall."

Lisa nodded, a small smile on her face. "I'm packed and ready to go." She brought Duncan into a hug. "You guys are coming up our way for New Years Eve, right?"

Duncan grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Wouldn't miss it, Lisa."

Martin eyed him suspiciously, but didn't say anything. When Lisa let go of Duncan to give Courtney a hug, Martin offered him his hand. "It wasn't too terrible of a visit, felon."

Duncan nodded, returning the handshake. "Thanks for coming, Mr. Shepherd."

Martin hugged his daughter and kissed her cheek, and within seconds, it was just Duncan and Courtney in their apartment.

She sighed and looked around. "Is it just me, or does our apartment suddenly feel huge?"

He stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I'm just happy they're gone. Let's never do that again."

Courtney glared at him playfully. "It was your idea!"

Duncan shook his head. "No it wasn't."

"Yes," she nodded. "It was. And I said it was a horrible idea. And you said, 'No it's not.' And then everybody came."

Duncan just shook his head again. "Nah-uh."

"Whatever!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "OH! I got you a present!"

Courtney smiled and started walking to their bedroom, Duncan following behind. "What kind of present?" He asked, a hopeful note in his voice.

She reached the closet and pulled out her recent purchase, throwing the bag at Duncan. He raised an eyebrow at her before retrieving her purchase from the bag. He held up the costume and raised another eyebrow at her.

In his hands he held a Wonder Woman costume, star spangled stars and stripes and all. "Uh, Princess? I hate to break this to you, but this is not my size."

She ripped the costume away from him before smiling mischievously. "It's not for _you_ to wear, Duncan."

He looked at her curiously for a long moment. And then, all at once, realization dawned on him. He grinned broadly, baring all his teeth. "I love Thanksgiving."

* * *

Reviews do inspire me to write[/hint]

OH and!! Who can guess where the 'Gingerbread Man' shower gel Duncan smells in the shower comes from? Because, it is a real product, and it really does smell like a gingerbread man cookie!


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